The Silver Pocket Watch
by chemiskorpion0002
Summary: Impossible had long lost its forbidding sense to him but there is a word that tears his guts the way impossible should. Ed/Win, Al/May, Roy/Riza, Ling/Lan Fan


Disclaimer:

I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. Fullmetal Alchemist is by Hiromu Arakawa-_sensei_.

A/N:

Set several years after the end of the manga.

An entry to this year's FMA Reverse Big Bang. Based on the amazing art of **llhotcat **(Go peek at it at llothcat deviantart ; see FMA Big Bang 2012-2013)

~0~0~0~

**The Silver Pocket Watch**

The darkness of twilight was watching him. The feeling was not anything out of ordinary, surprisingly. It was too familiar that he had to stare right back at the unblinking blackness of the approaching dawn. The hour was silent, as most nights were, but the hands of shadows were slipping through the darkness from everywhere. It would have been impossible to see them when they are as black as the night but he could. He could tell. He could feel them. He knew the feeling. He still does.

A huge door was creaking open in front of him, with ancient figures and scripts of the universe's old knowledge. The sight stilled him, stilled even the breath he was drawing in. His memories flared with the remembrance of what were beyond the gate. He knew he knows them all. He knew them but they were gone, dissolved in the emptiness of the night, before he could properly remember them.

"Ed?"

He blinked at the sound of his name and the vision was gone. Slowly he resumed breathing.

"Having a bad dream?"

He focused on his breathing until he felt the warmth of his wife's hand against his chest. "No," he whispered. He was not asleep in the first place. And it was not even a dream.

Winry shifted her body closer to him but did not prod on. He draped an arm around his wife's shoulders as he tried to sleep through his thoughts. Bad dreams like those, his good-for-nothing-idiot-of-a-father used to say, come to those with something called regrets.

It wasn't a dream and he doesn't have regrets.

~0~0~0~

They were rarely home in past and the years did not change it. Travelling to the opposite sides of the world meant they were rarely home together too.

Winry was working on her apple pie in the kitchen. She had gotten exceptionally good with it and her apple pie is one of the reasons Al regularly comes home at all. He was with Ed in his study. Ed's old room was turned to his study after he and Winry got married. The bed looked out of place in the room a long time ago. It had always been a library.

"So what did he call you for?" Al was walking through Ed's line of bookshelves, reading the spines of the books. They had gone rather dusty.

Ed let out a groan that was a cross between disgust and exasperation, "That old bastard is no good. And yes, he summoned me. Gave me this," he threw a small, square box to Al.

Al caught the box easily. He knew the box well enough despite never been able to touch it before. His face contoured to an expression that was bewilderment, confusion and something else. "You didn't join the military again did you?"

Ed found himself frowning. It was a stupid and wrong question in so many ways.

Al flinched at his own question. Sighing, he strode back to the large reading table by the window where Ed was perched. He set the box on the table, "So what's this?"

"He said it's a souvenir."

"The ID of state alchemists as a souvenir?"

Ed exhaled loudly in reply, "And it's him."

Al nodded and finally opened the box. His brother never handed him his pocket watch once when he was still Fullmetal.

Ed had looked away when Al was examining his old pocket watch. "How's Xing?" He saw his brother frown briefly, "Not good?"

"Good." His tone was tentative and gave him a long look.

"Among the clans?"

Al didn't reply right away again, fiddling with the watch instead.

It was Ed's turn to give him the long look. "Your wedding?"

The fingers on the old watch paused. Al gave his brother a half smile, "By the way, did you give him the invitation?"

The mood just crumbled to dusts. Ed snorted loud at the question, "I was sure I crossed out his name in the guest list. How come there's an invitation for him?"

"The Emperor."

He made an exasperated sigh, at which Al laughed at. Waving off his younger brother, Ed got off the table, "So when are you leaving for Xing?"

Al made a face, "I'm entitled to one last fling before the wedding, right?"

He did not see that coming that the older Elric froze. Recovering, he laughed long and hard at his brother. "Fine," he said as his laughter subsided several minutes later, "I have just the right destination for you."

The boyish grin in Al's face widened, "When are we leaving?"

Ed found himself smiling too, "It's been awhile isn't it?"

Small knocks on the door disrupted them. Al went to open the door and found Ed's four year-old daughter clinging on her brother's shirt who was, in turn, standing by the door, arms folded on his chest, glowering at his dad and uncle. "And you said you'd only be talking for a few minutes! How long are few minutes? I know how to count, and how many seconds there are in a minute."

Al chuckled as he ruffled the boy's hair and bent down to pick them both up in his arms, not missing the way the young girl's eyes lingered on her father's line of bookshelves.

The boy squirmed away from his uncle's arm, "I'm not a kid anymore!"

Laughter filled the room again at the remark. Ed stood up and went to the door too. "That's right Al, he's a big boy now. But he still can't outrun his dad to the kitchen." He pretended to sprint to the hallway at which the boy readily bought, running as fast as his young feet can carry him, easily outrunning his father.

The little girl in Al's arm squealed as Al joined the race to the kitchen, the smell of fresh apple pie guiding them.

~0~0~0~

It would have been convenient for both of them to own a car each but train remains their transportation of choice. The long ride offers an excellent excuse for contemplation. Just like now, even if Al has been asleep for three hours and Ed's the only one exploiting the hours of train ride for his reflections. The box of the pocket watch remained in his suitcase, buried beneath his clothes and coats, yet the weight of it stayed with him.

The train began sounding off loudly as the station came into view. He nudged Al softly, "We're here Al."

The younger Elric rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand as he sat up properly, a gesture that made Ed's heart swell in relief. Seeing Al this way erases everything else he felt about the Promised Day.

"How do you rate this place?" Al asked when he was able to look open his eyes better.

Ed chuckled as the train came to a full stop, "A little like Central actually, but less classy."

"Classy?" Al stood up and gathered their suitcases, "Where did you get the word?"

"Believe it or not, from Colonel."

"You mean General?"

Ed threw Al a heartfelt deadpan glare, "You just sounded like him."

Al chuckled at him, "Well, he's General now."

Ed stomped out of their coach, throwing his hands up in the air in despair, "Who cares! It only added air in his blotted head!"

Al had to excuse them from the staring passengers while his brother carried on with his annoyance on his former superior. They moved along with the stream of people filling out of the trains. The station was indeed similar to Central's but was a little bit off. He watched his brother walked around with apparent familiarity, hailing them a cab as soon as they got out of the rowdy train station.

The place was filled with tall buildings, taller than most of the buildings in Central and a far cry from the mostly wooden and stone magnificent structures of Xing. They all looked imposing and restricting, too uniform in arrangement and strictly geometric in shape to be aesthetically pleasing for Al. The hotel was close to the train station, taking them only ten or fifteen minutes of ride. They didn't mostly unpack, just dropped their suitcases in their room. Ed took his old silver pocket watch from its box, holding it tightly in his hand while Al fished through his things.

"Nii-san…"

Ed gave him a half smile as he pocketed the watch, "So, where do you want to start looking?"

Al acted like he didn't see the heavy expression in his brother's face. He arranged his coat properly and went for the door, "Where is my last fling?"

Ed grinned at him like a maniac. "There are five public libraries in this city." He said as followed Al to the door, "But the largest one have the biggest collection of alchemical texts."

"Is it near?"

"Near enough. I suggest we walk to it. There are sights around it."

Al nodded subtly not missing the way Ed's left hand was still inside his pocket where he had slid his old pocket watch earlier.

The library Ed was talking about was large with a large hall by the entrance, then a series of archways on both the right and left wings. Ed made his way to the left wing and Al followed through.

"You've been here haven't you?" Al asked as his brother expertly made his way through a series of turns to identical wings, winding among halls and rooms effortlessly.

"A few couple of times." He made his way inside one of the larger halls lined with massive shelves that housed obviously thick volumes of books. "There are texts about alkestry here too," he pointed towards the right side of the hall they were currently traversing.

Al was interested in seeing the books about Eastern Alchemy, having not seen any text on the subject in any place other than Xing but he could feel his brother hasn't mentioned the real fling material. He kept throwing him hard glances and his brother kept ignoring them. Ed took a turn towards a glass door, and Al simply followed.

Ed pointed Al to the reading area in the middle of the large room, "Wait for me there."

Al rolled his eyes at his brother but followed. Sitting there and not looking at the books made him fidgety. He kept looking around that he missed his brother walking back, depositing one leather-bound book in front of him. He didn't look at the book, he looked at his brother.

Ed's face was way too smug as he pushed the book to Al, "Dalton's Atomic Theory."

Al felt his jaw dropped, his eyes popped out of their sockets and he had to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand just in case he's drooling. "You're kidding me…" his voice sounded as surreal as what his brother was suggesting is sitting in front of him. _The_ text is elusive and rare. Dalton's theories aren't very welcomed and accepted yet in the alchemical community, even if he is probably the next biggest thing to Flamel.

"Not at all." Ed was gloating and he knew it. "Not just that," he added, when Al started leafing through the pages. He had dropped his voice lower so only Al could hear him, "They also got Rutherford's here. And Bohr's."

Al stared at his brother dumb folded.

Ed simply laughed, still gloating, "I'll get you the journal article of Rutherford about nucleus." Ed left Al browsing through the faded green book. When he reached the shelf he was looking for, he scanned the shelf for the article. As he reached for it, the watch in his pocket dug against his thigh. He took it out, staring at the emblem of Amestris while his other hand held the article by Rutherford. The watch once gave him a huge base for research too…

"A State Alchemist from Amestris."

Ed glanced at the intruding person with a frowned expression. The man was tall but definitely shorter than Major, no, Colonel Alex Armstrong, with almost same heavy built but he carried himself with surprising lightness, his gestures smooth and easy. He was eyeing the article Ed held, with an intensity that made Ed conclude the man knew the article well. Ed pocketed his old State Alchemist ID nonchalantly, "This is a public library."

The man grinned at him. The slight light afforded by the towering bookshelves made his green eyes seem to dance playfully as he turned to leave.

"You are?"

"Would you rather I ask for your identification?"

That shut Ed up. He wasn't supposed to be carrying around a silver pocket watch of a State Alchemist when he quitted several years ago, and he wouldn't just be putting himself in trouble.

The man gave a low satisfied chuckle before walking out of Ed's sight.

It sounded off to Ed, his chuckle, like a mix of two voices sounding off together. Or perhaps it was the weird acoustics of the library. As he walked back to Al, the word resounded in his head in that mixed voices sound. Over and over.

Al looked his brother over as he set the bunch of journal articles he had in hand. He looked a little lost, distant, in deep thought. Not even gloating or excited. "Nii-san?"

Ed glanced at Al abruptly, snapping him out of his reveries.

Al sized him up for several moments but figured that if something is wrong and he wanted him to know he would tell him. Regardless it had dampened his mood too. Still, "These are by Rutherford?"

"And Bohr." Ed sat to the chair across Al's and pushed the papers to his brother. He quickly scanned the journals while Ed remained musing. The word was still resounding in Ed's head, against his ears, over and over. Taunting.

It keeps repeating that word…

"_Alchemist."_

~0~0~0~

The trip took six days. They could have stayed longer if his wedding is not in three weeks time and he doesn't have to head back to Xing as soon as he could. Ed had to keep up with arrangements in Amestris too. It was a worthwhile last fling indeed, as his brother assured him. Not that he would stop pursuing alchemy once he's married. There were, however, a number of non-alchemy related things that were camping in his head for attention. He arrived at Xing by sunset. He was more than a little exhausted. The Chan's ancestral house has long been his home in Xing, even before May became his girlfriend. It felt unfamiliar today. The times he spent there had been too peaceful.

May entered his room silently and placed his change clothes in the closet.

Xingese fighters can read the energies of the earth. Xingese medical-alkestrists can read the energies of people. She would know even if he wouldn't talk about it. "Trisha-chan wanted me to teach her alchemy."

"Edward-san hasn't?"

Al felt his eyes heavy and allowed himself to close his eyes.

May considered his silence as she prepared his bed. "At least the principles?"

Al remembered how dusty Ed's books were.

She watched him carefully. There were no words of anything she can offer him. "Maybe you should rest for the night."

He nodded absent-mindedly as he took his change of clothes and headed to the bathroom. He was tired after all.

Xing had not been entirely peaceful for the past few months either. While Emperor Ling of the Yao clan had proved to be a very able and competent leader, earning the respect of his own half-siblings and their respective clans by his actions, Xing was a large nation. Its sheer size made it difficult to manage. May is aware that her choice of fiancée was not an acceptable one to many of Xing's Elders and she was grateful of the Emperor's support of her, but the disquieting effect of it was apparent to her. Her eyes lingered on the door of the bathroom. Hopefully, the present state of politics between his country and her's will not worsen further.

~0~0~0~

Central was never the most welcoming of places, even when he was still a State Alchemist, but it held memories. Ed found himself walking to the Central Headquarters, to the magnanimous building where the final examinations of State Alchemists are given. It looked huge and imposing to him, even if he was still a few blocks away from it. Funny how it felt daunting now when it was never intimidating to him. The visit to Central delayed him only for a day. There weren't many people he could find there. One of the people he visited was buried in a cemetery even.

Winry found him in his study again. She came with a slice of apple pie and tea, setting it on the table, before gathering her husband's coat. "Where did you and Al go?"

Ed gave a chuckle and a wink, "Can't say."

She laughed at the playfulness of it.

"I dropped by Central."

Winry recognized the drop in his voice too. He had reclined in his seat, leaning his head against the high back of his study chair, an arm over his eyes, a gesture she recognized too easily.

"I saw Major Arms- Colonel Armstrong. He said he got the invitation to Al's wedding."

"That's great then." A pause. "How's Elicia-chan?" Winry almost sighed in relief when she saw the grin in Ed's face.

"Gracia-san is having troubles keeping the boys off."

So that's what he found funny, she thought, finding herself laughing too. "Will they be going to the wedding?"

"Elicia-chan is excited about it."

"Your kids are too."

Ed shifted in his seat, retracting the arm covering his eyes, "Can you believe Al is actually going to marry a princess?" There was disbelief as well as amusement, and a hell lot of teasing in his tone. Naturally, it earned him a sincere disapproving glare, which he countered with loud laughter as he gathered his wife in his arms. "Al has always been the nicer brother. It must be karma."

Winry rolled her eyes on him, annoyed, but allowed him to pull her in his lap. "Isn't that what you call equivalent exchange?"

The grin in his face faltered a little at the mention of the old principle but bloomed into an even bigger smirk when it returned, "Now, now. Are you becoming a convert to alchemy, automail-otaku?" That earned him an elbow on his side, at which he retaliated by tightening his hold on Winry's torso. The smell of lavender and jasmine in her hair invaded his senses. It was good and intoxicating, relaxing him. His lips found the expanse of exposed skin of her neck. He placed light kissed as he spoke, "I'm having a hard time remembering their titles now. General Mustang, Colonel Armstrong…"

The kisses on her neck were good, teasing but firm, but it were his words that kept her attention. "You'll get used to it eventually."

"When I do, they will be promoted again and I will have to remember new things."

Winry laced her fingers with his, keeping his hold around her waist, not knowing what words of comfort to offer. "Ed…"

His kisses continued to her jaw line, "You should see Ishval. Not that we know how it looked like before but it's better than when we last saw it." Which was approximately when Mustang had only began rebuilding the province.

She shifted, giving her husband better access, not knowing what to say too. Ishval means a lot to her as well. But the kisses stopped. She felt him tuck his face on the crook of her neck.

"Everyone… everything is moving on Winry…"

She retracted her fingers from him and caressed the side of his face with gentle touches, "We are too."

Ed was silent in response, breathing against her neck as he closed his eyes. It was dark, like an endless hollow space, and he was free falling. There was no wind, no air, no light, no sound. But there was a door somewhere. A gate.

"Ed?"

He drew a loud and long sigh then opened his eyes again. And there was Winry. "Gracia-san gave me then recipe of her quiche. She said maybe you'd like to learn it."

"That's great." She was staring at the large window facing his study table, "Why don't you help me in the kitchen for a change?"

Ed considered it.

"Try something you haven't done before."

It wasn't equivalent exchange. Winry is more than what he deserved. "You wouldn't want me give cooking a try. I'll beat the crap out of you."

"You can't even drink milk. How can you be a good cook?"

"Why does everything have to do with milk? And I'm definitely taller than you now so that milk-logic is invalid."

That Ed was willing to argue again relieved Winry. She untangled her husband's hold on her, "Why don't you follow me in the kitchen and I'll show you who the boss is?"

"Right." He muttered, amused and challenged. Not that he ever tried cooking before. He watched his wife whirl away and disappear behind the door of his study. The closing door made him frown.

There were no creeping hands of shadows.

~0~0~0~

Spring has always been a beautiful season, hopeful, inspiring and alive. And that day was a beautiful spring day. Ed found himself smiling at the clear blue, almost cloudless sky that morning. It had been awhile since he felt so at peace and fulfilled. His hair ruffled against the spring breeze that smelled of flowers and love. Again, he smiled.

He's not even the one getting married today.

His kids were surprisingly put in a corner. He couldn't really blame them for behaving when Winry is holding a wrench. Maybe the kids got the impression of fearing the piece of steel Winry waves around like a sword from him. While Winry hits no one except him, and never in front of the kids, he had the tendency to automatically duck when she waves it around.

"Al-ji!"

His kids' simultaneous exclamation of their uncle's name made Ed look around. His heart swelled in familial pride and immense love for his brother that his eyes became clouded when the morning wasn't misty. Al finally emerged from his dressing room, garbed in traditional Xingese ceremonial robes of red and gold. Winry had stepped forward and hug Al delicately while the two kids were beaming at him (but were still standing straight and not moving around).

The brothers remained standing in their places, mirroring each others' smiles, until the deep, resounding sound of the gong struck eight times. Ed sighed, the same time Al did, and Winry had to chuckle aloud as she ushered the kids out of the room.

The left wing leading to the grand hall of the Dragon Palace was large and long, it felt like a long tunnel with high ceilings and colossal posts that dwarfed the brothers as they walked. It was said to be less ornate than the right wing, at least said rumors, since the only people who walks through the right wing of this Palace are the members of the Imperial family. The Dragon palace is the ceremonial center of the Kingdom of Xing, and today it will be the wedding venue. If Winry saw them that moment, she would have teased the hell out of them because they were smiling and smiling whenever they would catch each other's eyes, not very different from how they were when the groom was Ed. Briefly, Ed thought he saw their parents smiling somewhere but his visions whatsoever was overpowered by the glare of the sun and the beaming smiles of the guests as they turned the corner and entered the grand hall.

Ed understood that the grand hall is called the grand hall because it is grand, in opulence and size, but he never really realized it was huge until he felt forever twirl past him as he traversed the hall. He was pleasantly nervous at first until he had to lean closer to Al to whisper, "How many kilometers is this thing?"

Al did not know if his brother was trying to make him laugh or he was serious, but he found himself smiling, "Wouldn't know. I'm too distracted."

Ed rolled his eyes at him and kept walking. This hall is seriously, exaggerating grand. Luckily he need not walk the length of the entire thing. Half-way the grand hall is the exit of the right wing. All commoners and non-members of the Imperial Family never cross that half-way. Ed joined the rest of the congregation as May emerged from the corner of the right wing. He still wondered how May grew up. In his head, she's always the small girl with braided hair that carried a black and white cat. A far picture from the beautiful young woman who was looking as majestic as her title implied. Ling never looked like a prince to him too until he saw him in his throne, sitting mighty and regal, by then he was no longer just a prince. Just as May never seemed like a princess until now. The princess bride was stunning and elegant, with a smile that Ed never thought would go well with her face.

The sun was passed the overhead mark when the ceremony ended. As the bride and groom rose, the hall cheered and Ed felt a rush of fierce pride and joy.

In the midst of all the festive sounds, Al fell forward and collapsed.

~0~0~0~

It didn't go like a slow motion picture. It was sudden, just as sudden as the silence that settled when Al hit the wooden floor of the grand hall. For a moment, Edward froze, unable to move nor feel, or draw his breath, only when May screamed Al's name that Ed ran forward, the name of his brother coming out in an unbelieving shout. Suddenly the distance did not seem infinite and Ed was sure he hadn't learn how to fly or teleport but he grasping the sleeves of the groom almost as soon as he began running.

"AL!"

~0~0~0~

The place was frenzied but Ed's point of view was narrowed on the arrow that was stuck in Al's left lower shoulders. His senses were focused on removing the blasted arrow there, his mind methodological, alert and unwavering. The arrow went deep and wasn't going to come off easy. There weren't much blood from the wound but Al was spurting blood in his mouth.

There were more arrows flying around. Ed wasn't even aware one was headed his way. But Lan Fan was. She darted from the Emperor's side to Ed's, brushing off the incoming arrow with her automail arm as she shouted orders in Xingese language, and was back to the Emperor's side in a blink of the eye, just as several masked people rushed in, surrounding all guests in defensive position. Roy's trained eyes darted everywhere while he moved, taking Gracia and Elicia between him and Riza. The whole of his old team was in the wedding including Hayate, though he could, of course, not attend the ceremony. Havoc and Breda had Ed's family in cover.

May's medical trainings kicked in at seeing the expression in Ed's face. How he managed to keep a straight head with Al on the ground reminded May of Al when he asked her to make a path between him and Ed's absent right hand on the Promised Day. Her expression hardened in concentration too even with tears still flooding from her eyes, "Ed-nii, please pull the arrow off when I say so." Seeing him nod in the corner of her eyes, she used Al's blood to draw a circle around her husband's upper body then she pulled out her kunais. A flash of light fluttered around Al as Ed pulled the arrow off.

By then Al had lost consciousness.

How they managed to move out, Ed did not remember. May started talking in Xingese language and the masked people around them dissipated, somehow taking him and Al with them. His eyes roamed the grand hall in a quick split second that he managed. But in the mass of swarming people he could not see his family.

Ed screamed.

~0~0~0~

The room was silent enough that his breathing was greatly audible, the sound bouncing around and echoing in his ears, contrasting with the labored and almost absent breathing of his brother. The arrow made substantial damage, punctured his lungs and even almost crazing his heart. Most of the physical damage had been mended but the oxygen level in Al's blood stream was dropping. He was breathing through a tube attached to an oxygen bag. Ed didn't know where he was looking and what he was seeing. The solitude of the room was driving him insane.

There was no one.

There was no one else.

Then there was literally no sound. There was nothing around him but an endless white in an endless void. He turned around and saw a huge gate somewhere before him but far, so far that he could barely see it.

'_So you're sure you don't mind getting rid of that?'_

'_Even if I lost alchemy, I'll still have my friends.'_

He whipped his head around, searching, but he couldn't make out where the sounds came from. He turned again and he was facing the Gate of Truth.

Edward stared.

He never faced the gate. _His_ gate was always behind him.

'_Even if I lost alchemy, I'll still have my friends.'_

'_Correct, alchemist.'_

He looked around and he was alone. The sounds he kept hearing were loud, too near to be somewhere else. It echoed in his head.

'_Correct, alchemist.'_

Then laughter, laughter in so many voices, voices he knew too well.

'_Alchemist.'_

Then the entity they referred to as Truth was before him, standing before the gate, leering at him. His grinning lips did not move but Edward heard it again,_ 'Correct, alchemist.' _

He heard a very difficult drawing of breath and realized that it was his brother. The vision was gone again. He was in the room once more, sitting next to his where his brother lay. And there were no one else, just him and Al, and somehow Al is dying.

Was he really correct? Or was Truth making fun of him?

Not once did Al open his eyes. He cannot remember how long it was but the silence stretched on, bordering eternity for Ed, and no one came.

No one.

~0~0~0~

A distinct sharp sound of a door closing alerted Ed but silence absorbed everything easily. It must have been his imagination again.

"If it is by the Equivalent Exchange of your alchemy, how much should I return to the perpetrators of this?"

Ed whipped his head up towards the voice. The movement made his sight woozy but he was certain that he saw the Emperor and the only person that is with him even when he sits on his throne. Ed always thought Ling is a bit lanky but now his frame appeared magnanimous by the door.

"Or if we go by that new rule you and Al are trying to work on, how bad have I given whoever did this for them to do this?" The Emperor's face darkened, "How much should I add when I give back to them?"

He knew the look of firm determination in the Emperor's face but today it wasn't just pure resolve. Ling's eyes were sinister too.

It wasn't just changes in their titles that kept telling Ed they were no longer the people he once knew.

As the Emperor drew closer to the brothers, Ed heard him sigh loudly. The dark expression in Ling's face went with his deep exhale. He saw how tight Ed had closed his fists and the slight trembling that racked his body too often. He must have been holding the position for a while since his knuckles were white. "I'm sorry Ed. Their best guess is that something increased the concentration of methemoglobin in his blood but truth is they cannot identify the poison, if its poison at all."

Ed gave an exhausted laugh. Life has a knack of pulling out pranks in the most uncanny way. The thought had been playing around in his mind along with the labored breathing of his brother. The last time he remembered a situation like this, Lan Fan was on the sick bed, he and Al were trying to apologize to Ling while the later had to bear hearing Lan Fan suffer. Now, it was a complete turn-around, Al on the sick bed, him trying to figure out how it is to hear his brother battle death, Ling and Lan Fan next to him, trying to find words to comfort him as much as apologize. Irony is life's way of being funny sometimes, if not often. He felt the pulse of the vein in his temple as slapped his palms on his face, "Don't get the wrong idea…"

Ling must have recognized the line because he gave Ed a weak smile.

Lan Fan was struck with confusion when Ed threw her a glance, as if it was the appropriate thing for him to do next.

"If the people who have thoroughly studied Xing cannot identify the poison, it is most probably not from Xing. If so then it wasn't one of the clans." It was Roy Mustang's way to announce his arrival in the most theatrical manner possible. Ling and Ed turned to him as he pronounced his arrival to the room with this verdict. He was closely followed by Riza and Izumi. Winry and May entered the room together last. Not a word from the women but it was their presence in the room that roused Ed completely. Somewhere in his eyes shone the vulnerability he had been hiding in that hard look in his face.

The room remained silent but words floated beyond Ed like endless chattering, just as how he seemed to drift away from the room, from himself, like he was outside of the scene, watching all of them from a far.

May had been reciting Al's observed symptoms again in whispers, not a tear from her since they started treating Al, even if her face screwed up in the verge of crying too often. Just like when she made a path between Al and his right arm in the Promised Day. She had left the sickbed of her husband to seek cure. She is, after all, one of the most talented of Xing's alkestrist.

Then there was another movement.

Al.

Al jerked in the bed, like a reflex to something then his breath got caught up, and Ed didn't know what happened next exactly. Al's name echoed in the room, different voices calling him out, and Ed wasn't in the room anymore. He was devoured by an ocean of white, an endless space of nothingness, the Gate in front of him and Truth grinning in front of him. Yet it was different. There were rustling behind him, like the hands of shadows creeping against the blanket of white space around him, and sound of his name by different voices.

He used to say too often that he'll beat the shit out of Truth. The Truth guy told him he beat him, but Ed didn't mean to beat him figuratively, he meant to beat him up literally.

The Gate began to open again and Ed realized he didn't care. He stepped forward, fists clenched together. The rustling behind him wasn't the hands of shadows, because the shadow hands were slithering out of the Gate creeping open. He didn't have time to look back as he launched forward, his right fist flying towards the grinning creature called by many names, and the chain of his silver pocket watch rattled with his movements.

While the rest of the room was focused on Al, Winry caught the shift in Ed, and she quickly turned from Al to her husband, "Ed?"

"The purplish liquid in the arrow was the concentrated extract of hydrorosa." Ed was surprised at how calm that came out, more like a sudden realization than something he did thought off.

"Hydorosa?" In the midst of many other emotions, May frowned visibly, "Genus _Ausicum_?"

While Ling is neither an alkestrist nor a botanist, he is the Emperor of Xing, "That does not even exist here. Our climate is too dry for those shrubs."

Ed nodded. That explained many other things but first he felt his head heavy as dams of information broke, "The most dominant compound in hydrorosa is hiromose. Hiromose oxidizes the Fe2+ (ferrous) to Fe3+ (ferric) in hemoglobin, converting it to methemoglobin, reducing the affinity of oxygen molecules."

Izumi made a noise that sounded like a snort, "Hiromose." She kept her eyes on his old student as he spoke, "Hiromose has a high affinity for oxygen and its oxidation converts it to hiromosin."

Roy and May tensed.

Ed had looked away from his master. The simple hydrolysis of hiromosin will transform the compound from being relatively harmless to a structure similar to MIT1 of an infamous serpent, a highly selective toxin for a receptor in the central nervous system inducing uncoordinated muscle movement and difficult breathing patterns. The next words came out with unfathomable difficulty, "The anaerobic media developed from this consumption of oxygen activates arakinase."

May paled. "Arakinase?!"

Winry had mostly spent the several seconds since Ed first spoke like a lecturer wondering how she fell in love with a weirdo called Ed. But she didn't miss how his face and Izumi's and Roy's darkened considerably from something that should be a cause of panic, which only May was able to voice out.

Ed fell back to his seat heavily. In Ed's head, he saw his fist finally connected to Truth guy but he never felt more defeated than this moment. It felt like he beckoned that world of emptiness to engulf him whole. The Truth guy had always been his image, his height, his voice but when he closed his eyes and saw the entity again, he was enormous and his voice was clear, sharp and not his'. Ed felt that all the while that he considered himself an equal to the Truth entity by the Gate.

Were they ever equals?

It was the same low, prickly feeling of learning he cannot save the small girl that turned to a chimera several decades ago. Arakinase catalyzes the hydrolysis of hiromosin. The few seconds that ensued was an endless eternity of silence, broken only by Al's loud erratic breathing.

Riza understood something bleak in the present situation just as she understood the calculating look in her superior's face. Roy was thinking. When he spoke, he said, "Bring Breda in." Riza prompted immediately to his order.

Roy's voice broke the image swallowing Ed up. Breda? A moment later Ed gave a short shocked, happy but devastated laugh. Winry was rendered motionless by the play of emotion in her husband's face and felt hot liquid fear trickle down her cheeks. She could reach but who could touch Ed now? She felt a hand on her shoulder. It was the man she once feared will take Ed and Al away from her.

"Arakinase is deactivated by saicicol. It also that deactivates the reaction center of hiromose, preventing its hydrolysis to hiromose. It is found in scoville."

Winry didn't know how that explained anything. In the first place scoville is a condiment just like wasabi or salt.

Ed laughed again. His hands covered his face as his laughter grew louder.

"Ed..."

Roy calmly looked on. "Edward introduced scoville to Breda." Breda had a curious habit of tagging along his favorite condiments just as how Hawkeye is never without a gun, or Lan Fan without a kunai. Roy glanced at Al. They were smart and cruel. If Al dies, it will be harder and more painful for everyone because the antidote has been ready all along. It will be a grave insult to all alchemists and alkestrists present in the wedding. His lips thinned to a line. His eyes were dark.

And Al is an alchemist, May an alkestrist.

Whoever the perpetrators are, they played the tricks well. His eyes left the younger Elric to look at the older one. Too bad for them though, Ed is the youngest state alchemist in the history of Amestris not just because he could transmute without a transmutation circle.

Ed settled as he was once again somewhere, in front of the entity called Truth. The gate was opening in front of him and hands made of shadows were beckoning him on, taking the grinning Truth with them as they slither back to the blackness beyond the gate. Behind him were shadows too, shadows of figures that had always been behind him. He stepped forward, hands fisted as he launched to a sprint, going after the entity that is him too. He had stepped beyond the gate but nothing else mattered as his arm extended to hit the Truth in the face.

~0~0~0~

Of the three of them, Ed had the least concern and interest in politics, but he found himself talking majority of the time instead, "The problem isn't Al marrying May or vice versa."

While Edward was known to be a prodigy in alchemy, Roy was aware how little attention Ed directed to politics. He was aware too that he had a hand in keeping Ed away from the topic while the boy was still in the military. Roy was pleasantly amused by how much Ed had developed the few years he was travelling around freely, without the shackles of the military.

"The problem is the relationship between Amestris and Xing." Ed said, throwing both men a glance. He often remarked how all changes, yet somehow, today, facing a general and an emperor instead of a colonel and prince, he saw old faces and recognized old companions. "Two of the largest and most powerful alchemy and alkestry centers."

Roy kept his gaze on Ed for awhile then before turning to the Emperor, "By all means it is improper for me to speak of my opinion regarding the disquiet in Xing."

Roy, Ed observed, always had that impenetrable intense look in his eyes that instigates a person to listen to him, the same eyes that are now looking straight to the Emperor of Xing. He found it peculiar that Ling, who was meeting the general's gaze squarely, has almost the same eyes, the same intensity and authority, the same color.

"As Edward noted the issue with the wedding is a front. The disquiet among the clans is in turn caused by anexternal factor."

Ling gave no reaction. His silence was thick in contemplation. When he did, his eyes darkened, "It's a classic battle strategy."

"Divide and conquer." Roy kept his eyes on the young Emperor, "Yes."

The Emperor folded his arms on his chest, "For them to be stirring old rivalries..." His father, the former emperor, united the clans by marrying a daughter of each chief. He didn't and isn't planning to.

"Rivalries never die down but the best people to work together are rivals." Roy Mustang never faltered in his gaze. "I do not need to tell you that too."

The silence that ensue every statement was heavy. Ed glanced between the two for a couple of times before he spoke again, addressing Ling particularly this time, "You were the man who co-existed in the same body with Greed right?"

The side of the Emperor's lips quirked up and no prolonged silence followed as he faced both men properly and said, "I will call for an assembly in a few weeks' time. Both your presence will be highly appreciated."

Roy stood first then Ed followed, bowing before the Emperor.

~0~0~0~

Assembly or not, Al was still recuperating so Ed decided the family should stay in Xing for a while. There is one innate fear in every human but to Ed that fear is magnified several folds over because he knew how devastatingly painful it is to lose everyone he called family, even if it was only for a few minutes.

Around the week of the Emperor's assembly, Al was out of sick bed. He was having troubles in many things, couldn't properly move his left arm and stutters sometimes, but he was good and well at least. At the moment, he's not Winry's greatest concern as she paced the room tirelessly, debating on the proper words to communicate the gravity of her distress.

Ed threw the coat he was stuffing in his suit case to the bed and faced her properly, "She only asked if she could stay with Al and May in the summer. Al is my brother, her uncle, and I believe is more capable of handling the child better than I can."

Winry stopped pacing the length of the room and slapped her hands on either side of her hips, looking ready to attack but the words escape her again.

Pressing his fingers on his temple, Ed stood up, "Winry. What is wrong?"

"Our daughter is four years old."

"I know."

"Four years old Edward!"

Ed understood it somehow. There isn't much issue with their son because he is older but their daughter is, as Winry said, only four years old. And for her to stay a whole summer away from her parents, even if she'll be staying there with her brother too… "She's staying with Al. I thought you were okey with that in the first place anyway."

"Staying with Al is fine."

Now Ed doesn't know what the problem is. "So what the hell is wrong?"

Winry opened her mouth and closed it again twice before she spoke again, "Ed. Our daughter is four years old. Four. Explain to me how _my_ four year old daughter is asking you and Al to teach her alchemy?! Do _you_ understand?! She's four years old!"

Ed's face convoluted in utterly sincere confusion. "It wasn't the first time she did."

"That makes it all the more unthinkable!"

"Unthinkable?"

"Four years old!" Winry covered her face with the palm of her hand while Ed wondered what was worth crying in the situation.

"Winry." For a moment Ed did not know what to say or do. A crying Winry has always, always been his weakness. He carefully crossed the room and placed a hand on her shoulder. He almost sighed when she did not shrug it off. "Okey. Maybe we can postpone their summer stay with Al to next year."

"That's not the problem."

Ed heard that before and he still doesn't understand. It was always a wonder to him how he managed to learn how to transmute in books without any supervision and lecture, and still fail to understand Winry's words.

"She should still be playing with dolls Ed."

"You never played with dolls in the first place."

Winry slumped. _"And Ed was dubbed the youngest state alchemist in the history of Amestris. Something is really wrong with Amestris."_

He and Al started studying alchemy on their own before he was even five years old. Ed felt a pause somewhere and found himself scratching the back of his neck then, "She's _my_ daughter Winry. Does that explain?"

Somehow, simple as it is, it did. Winry burst out laughing.

~0~0~0~

He was never alone since he woke up two weeks ago. Al eased up at finally finding time being alone, reveling on his allowed movements too. He was packing something for his brother.

The door slid open quietly, "Al-ji?"

He turned to the small voice and smiled at his little niece, beckoning her to enter the room.

She prompted gracefully then asked, "Do you know what 'All is one, one is all' means?"

Al almost answered then stopped. He was expecting the child will ask him again to teach her alchemy. "Well," he tried to organize his thoughts and wondered if it was another of the damages of the poison that he was unable to. He crouched on the floor to face his niece properly, still quite unable to piece his words together. The child was looking at him inquisitively and patiently. He smiled as he saw her eyes. It reminded him of the eyes of the person that promised him he'll get his body back. Sure. Determined. Passionate. Al drew a breath then asked, "Where did you hear that?"

"From Dad."

Al stilled.

"It was quite surprising." She said, as if recognizing that her uncle was surprised. "He found us reading one of his books that nii-san managed to sneak away from his library. We thought he'll scold us. But he asked us if we wanted to learn alchemy, as if nii-san and I haven't asked him to teach us for like," the young girl paused and counter her little fingers, then gave up, "…for like so many, many times. He never answers us when we ask. That's why I asked you last time you were at the house."

Al nodded. He remembered Trisha asking that.

"It was nii-san's idea to ask you."

"And it was your brother's idea to ask me about the 'all is one, one is all' too?"

Trisha groaned loudly, "I told him you'll find out!" she pouted her lips and flipped her golden blonde hair to her back.

"Why do you need to know what that statement means?"

"Because," she said, folding her small arms on her chest, "Tou-san said he will only teach us alchemy if we were able to explain what that meant."

Al stared then his face brightened up.

Despite the smile Trisha frowned, "And obviously you are not going to tell me."

"Your dad and I figured out what it meant in seven days."

Her small, pretty face perked up at the statement.

"You see, it is a pre-requisite to studying alchemy. I will also ask you to explain it to me when it's my turn to teach you."

The little girl pouted again as her uncle ruffled her hair. "Fine. Wait here. I will go find nii-san. We probably need to figure it out before we leave Xing so we don't have to explain it twice." She leaned forward to kiss her uncle in the cheek before twirling away and stomping out of the room to find her brother.

And Al finally managed to draw a sigh of relief.

~0~0~0~

Just to annoy his former superior, Ed summoned them to his place while they were boarding the train to Ishval. He did not intend them to stay the night in his house but he needed them to drop by his place at least.

As Ed and Roy entered the kitchen, the younger man asked, "Do you remember this place?"

The older man looked around. It barely changed at all, not in years. He offered no words.

The words came back to Ed again. He always had a vivid memory.

"_I won't force you. I am just offering a possibility. If there is a possibility there ... you should take a step forward."_

They stood, each with his own memory. Ed raised his eyes to Roy then gripped the silver pocket watch in his hand and tossed it to him, "I don't need physical reminders of what I wa- of what I am."

Roy caught the pocket watch effortlessly. It was lighter than it looked. Both of them had no more words. Roy Mustang, who had stared at so many different eyes in many different circumstances, once again marveled at the gold hue of the boy's eyes. It was different from so many black and blue irises that flickered in his memory. The boy, no, he isn't a boy anymore, was staring back. His gaze had always been hard, the kind of look that makes it hard for you to look away. The smirk in Flame alchemist's lips was as brief as a quick flame then he pocketed the watch, and he was leaving. Ed watched his back until the door closed behind him. The look in Ed's face did not disappear with him.

Riza, who was talking to Winry on the couch in the living room, stood up as Roy exited the kitchen. Both women did not fail to note that he was clutching something inside his pocket. Winry hoped it was an engagement ring, half expecting Roy to drop to one knee when Riza approached him. But they had both turned their backs on her before her imagination even began.

Ed was with Winry when she saw them off. The handsome carriage waited for them, like those couples ride on after the wedding said Winry after Roy and Riza were gone. Ed only gave a half smile at his wife's suggestion.

"I'm not sure it's only my imagination." Winry noted. The sound of the horses' hooves against the earth of the dirt road was distinct.

"He's married to his goals."

She frowned at Ed's answer. "While I do see him as someone who would likely do that, I thought his womanizing tendencies were the greater issue."

Ed chuckled loudly. Roy Mustang is a shrewd strategist. "You'd be surprised."

Not quite knowing how to properly react to his statement, Winry glanced briefly at him.

"They are the two legs of one goal. How you could possibly get anywhere if your two legs are together."

It felt like the day Edward told her that it's equivalent exchange, he will give her half of his like and she will do likewise. Only this time what made her momentarily speechless wasn't her husband's geeky sense of humor. As she felt his arm around her shoulders, Winry smiled at him.

Ed returned the sad yet proud and reverent smile.

"How is Edward?" Riza asked as the carriage began moving.

"The same as the first time I saw him."

"His eyes…," Riza glanced back at the disappearing house behind her. The couple was still standing together. She didn't want to start counting the years. "His eyes were filled with fire?"

Roy Mustang smirked as he pulled Ed's old watch from his pocket. When Berthold Hawkeye first took him as an apprentice, he wondered how his master is called an alchemist when he never once saw him transmute anything. It always puzzled him. And even now it seems, his master still kept teaching him, he thought as he passed the Ed's silver pocket watch to his master's daughter. "Throw it away. The Fullmetal Alchemist will never need it again."

~0~0~0~

A/N:

Hiromosin, hiromose, arakinase and saisicol DO NOT exist. They are not real compounds and enzymes. Hydrorosa is NOT a real plant and Ausicum is NOT a real plant genus either.

Scoville is NOT a condiment. I simply took the name from the Scoville Scale which is utilized to measure the pungency or heat chili peppers.

Methemoglobin or ferrihemoglobin (hemoglobin with oxidized iron center or heme group) causes methemoglonemia also referred to as Blue Baby Syndrome. Since the iron in the heme group is Fe3+ instead of Fe2+, the affinity of oxygen decreases, thereby decreasing the ability of red blood cells to transport oxygen in the body.

Mamba intestinal toxin, MIT(1), was isolated from Dendroaspis polylepis venom (of the black mamba), an 81-amino acid polypeptide cross-linked by five disulphide bridges. Its action is directed to colon and intestinal muscles, inducing contraction. It does NOT induce uncoordinated muscle movements and difficult breathing patterns though it is also a highly selective toxin for a receptor present in the central nervous system (CNS).

A/N:

Sorry for the tendency to be geek but FMA is geek. And it is my favorite manga not just because it is a genius in itself but also because I'm what you can call a modern alchemist. *grins*


End file.
